Database Management

Relational Database Management Systems (RDBMSs) continue to do the heavy lifting in data management, while newer database management systems are taking on prominent roles as well. NoSQL database systems such as Key-Value, Column Family, Graph, and Document databases, are gaining acceptance due to their ability to handle unstructured and semi-structured data. MultiValue, sometimes called the fifth NoSQL database, is also a well-established database management technology which continues to evolve to address new enterprise requirements.

Database Management Articles

New and emerging vendors offer fresh ways of dealing with data management and analytics challenges in areas such as data as a service, security as a service, cloud in a box, and data visualization. Here, DBTA looks at the 10 companies whose approaches we think are worth watching.

Microsoft's SQL Server platform has been on a roll lately, with its smooth and feature-rich SQL 2016 release gaining accolades across the industry, including the DBMS of the Year award from db-engines.com. The company's increased focus on cloud, strong BI tool set, impressive functionality and emerging cross-platform capability with SQL on Linux has made this RDBMS a staple of database shops around the world.

BlueData, provider of Big-Data-as-a-Service (BDaaS) software, is releasing an enhanced version of BlueData EPIC, providing increased scalability, enhanced networking, and significant security and performance optimizations. With BlueData EPIC 3.0, enterprises can quickly and easily deploy large-scale production environments for big data analytics and data science running in Docker containers - either on-premises, in the public cloud, or in a hybrid architecture.

Thoma Bravo LLC, a private equity investment firm, has acquired Continuum, provider of an IT management platform for managed IT service providers (MSPs), from Summit Partners. Financial details of the deal were not disclosed.

The world of data management is constantly changing. Each year, the DBTA 100 spotlights the companies that are dealing with evolving market demands through innovation in software, services, and hardware.

MarkLogic, has announced that its enterprise NoSQL database is now available on Microsoft Azure. According to MarkLogic, offering its database platform on Azure gives customers the flexibility they need by providing a single, actionable 360-degree view of their data in the cloud, whether on Azure or in a hybrid cloud environment, allowing them to seamlessly build and deploy applications, drive digital transformation projects, or set up short-term cloud deployments. The MarkLogic platform on Azure also enables customers to scale apps and projects up or down without downtime and with optimal deployment and transactional consistency, giving customers maximum operational efficiency

Melissa, a provider of global data quality and identity verification solutions, has achieved certification in the EU-U.S. Privacy Shield Framework, which establishes principles to ensure privacy of customer data shared in the process of transatlantic commerce. According to Melissa, this certification supports Melissa's ongoing commitment to the security, privacy, and availability of customer data for a worldwide clientele.

Attunity Ltd., a provider of data integration and big data management software solutions, is launching a new solution, Attunity Compose for Hive, which automates the process of creation and continuous loading of operational and historical data stores in a data lake.

Addressing the rise of hybrid deployments, Hortonworks has introduced a new software support subscription to provide seamless support to organizations as they transition from on-premise to cloud. Separately, Hortonworks also announced the general availability of Hortonworks Dataflow (HDF) 3.0, a new release of its open source data-in-motion platform, which enables customers to collect, curate, analyze and act on all data in real-time, across the data center and cloud.

Redgate Software has announced that the latest version of SQL Backup Pro now includes automatic integration with Amazon Simple Storage Service (S3), making it easier for users to store their SQL Server backups in the cloud. With the new capabilities in SQL Backup Pro, Redgate says it is retiring its own Hosted Storage service for SQL Backup Pro, originally launched in 2013, and is supporting customers migrating to Amazon S3.

Building on its Identity-based Security Operation Center (SOC) cloud services, Oracle has announced a series of developments that enhance the portfolio's machine learning, artificial intelligence and contextual awareness technologies. The latest round of enhancements include Adaptive Access capabilities into Oracle Identity Cloud Service intended for dynamic application access controls, advanced risk monitoring by leveraging machine learning engines, and the expansion of Oracle CASB Cloud Service to help support Oracle SaaS solutions with automated threat detection.

OpenText, a provider of enterprise information management software, has introduced the second enhancement pack for OpenText Release 16, the company's digital information platform that helps customers to digitize business processes and manage information flows across the digital enterprise. Supporting the flow of information inside and outside of the enterprise, the extended ECM platform offers stronger integrations within the OpenText Platform as well as with leading applications such as Archiving for Oracle EBS, and SAP S/4HANA, SAP Cloud for Customer (C4C), SuccessFactors, and Hybris Marketing.

Syncsort, a provider of data integration solutions for next-generation analytics, has announced new solutions that bring together its industry-leading big data integration and recently acquired Trillium data quality software to address data governance and customer 360 initiatives within data lakes.

PremiumSoft has announced the release of Navicat Version 12 with a brand new interface for its Navicat family of products. Navicat develops the database management and development software. Its flagship product, Navicat Premium, allows users to access up to six databases all-in-one, including MySQL, MariaDB, SQL Server, SQLite, Oracle, and PostgreSQL, eliminating workflow disruption to leverage users' time and increasing productivity and efficiency.

MapR Technologies, Inc., provider of a converged data platform that integrates analytics with operational processes in real time, has announced MapR-XD, a cloud-scale data store to manage files and containers. As part of the MapR Converged Data Platform, MapR-XD supports any data type from the edge to the data center and multiple cloud environments with automatic policy-driven tiering from hot, warm or cold data to enable customers to create global data fabrics which are ready for analytical and operational applications.

Information Builders, a provider of business intelligence (BI) and analytics, data integrity, and integration solutions, has announced five key enhancements to help customers accelerate data-driven decision making.

IBM Security announced an initiative to help address the projected 1.8 million-person cybersecurity worker shortage through programs and partnerships that promote a "new-collar" cybersecurity workforce strategy. As part of this initiative, IBM is sponsoring alternative education models at the high school level, while defining new workforce approaches to reach a broader pipeline of employees based on skills, experience and aptitudes as opposed to traditional hiring models which focus on degrees alone. In fact, nearly 20% of IBM Security professionals hired in the U.S. since 2015 fall into this category of "new-collar" employees.

Qubole, a data platform provider, is building an autonomous data platform designed to automate and analyze platform usage to make data teams more effective. The next-generation data platform includes three new products: Qubole Data Service (QDS) Community Edition, QDS Enterprise Edition, and QDS Cloud Agents.

NTT DATA, a global IT-services provider headquartered in Tokyo, has made a strategic capital investment in enterprise NoSQL database provider, MarkLogic Corp. The companies say they will also be expanding their existing strategic business alliance to develop new go-to-market strategies with emphasis on joint customer development in Europe, North America, South America and Japan.

New England Water Heater is a plumbing services company specializing in water heater repair and installation based in North Waltham, MA. The company provides a centralized service through a network of geographically dispersed plumbing companies in the surrounding region, including its own company, Home Services of New England (HSNE) Plumbing. As a longtime Revelation Software customer, NEWH uses a system on Revelation's OpenInsight 9.4 for business processes such as document management, phone calls, and customer support.

Often, when working with technical people, they get excited over the latest and greatest piece of software or hardware. They try and get their management excited, but it seems as if their management just doesn't "get" how good it is.

Although Java and JavaScript are the most popular all around programming languages today, the C programming language remains the language of choice for high performance computing after almost 45 years of mainstream use. However, where runtime performance considerations are paramount, Go and Rust are emerging as valid successors to C.

Resources used to be expensive. Resources used to be scarce. Resources used to take a long time to provision. As such, it made sense to put resource consumption at the top of the list when talking about database performance. Those days are gone. With more than 80% of databases running in virtual environments, where hardware is more commoditized every day, access to physical resources—CPU, memory, network, and disk—whenever needed is much easier. In fact, Moore's Law predicts that technology advancements will double every 2 years. Well, most physical resources are certainly on pace with that, or better.

With data increasingly recognized as a highly valuable enterprise asset, data protection is understandably becoming a higher priority. To explore the issues surrounding data protection, including the role of people, processes, and technology in creating a proactive security stance, Database Trends and Applications is introducing the Cybersecurity Sourcebook.

Cloudera has launched Altus, a new PaaS offering aimed at making it easier to run large-scale data processing applications on public cloud. The initial Altus service helps data engineers use on-demand infrastructure to speed the creation and operation of elastic data pipelines that power sophisticated, data-driven applications.

Pythian, a technology services provider, is launching a customized analytics solution that integrates multiple data types from both internal and external sources. The new solution, "Kick Analytics As A Service" (Kick AaaS), gathers multi-source, multi-format data together in the cloud, and adds advanced analytics, machine learning and visualizations to ensure business users and business systems get the insights they need when they need them

It's imperative businesses plan strategically ahead for the future. Combine that with the myriad of choices a database professional or arcitecht has when it comes to future proofing their business. Mike King, enterprise technologist of big data at Dell EMC, covered a variety of databases, unique advantages and disadvantages of each, usage, tidbits, strategy, and more during his presentation titled "Crafting Your Database Strategy for the Future" at Data Summit 2017.

Data management is going through a paradigm shift—again, said Joe Caserta, president of Caserta Concepts, who delivered a keynote titled, "Architecting Data for the Modern Enterprise," at Data Summit 2017 in NYC.

The Amazon experience completely changed the way consumers buy books and now providing a catalogue type experience for enterprises could shape the way their businesses access data. At Data Summit 2017 Stan Christiaens, CTO at Collibra, explored how data cataloguing can enable enterprises to uncover insights and drive innovation with his presentation "The Amazonification Approach to Data."

IBM has introduced a toolkit on Power Systems optimized for open source databases, including MongoDB, PostgreSQL, MySQL, MariaDB, Redis, Neo4j, and Apache Cassandra, to help deliver more speed, control, and efficiency for enterprise developers and IT departments.

Quest Software, a global systems management and security software provider, is announcing enhancements to its portfolio of SQL Server database management and performance monitoring solutions. "We are announcing multiple enhancements to address the Microsoft SQL Server community and customer base," said Greg Davoll, software products leader, Quest Software. Quest as a company is focused on three sets of capabilities for customers: database performance monitoring; database replication; and database development and management tooling, and these new product enhancements reflect that focus, he added.

With customer experience expected to overtake price and product as the key brand differentiator by 2020, Couchbase contends that a new category of database that enables enterprises to continually create and reinvent the customer experience is critical.

IDERA, a provider of database lifecycle management solutions, has enhanced its SQL Secure and SQL Doctor products with new cloud capabilities. The releases help data professionals to adapt to, experiment with and take advantage of expanding cloud strategies, while DBAs can embrace the speed and agility demands of DevOps with database performance and security recommendations designed for the public cloud.

As IBM's recent announcement shows, blockchain is becoming a serious option for the enterprise. While still in the pilot stages, blockchain may provide the ability to track data and transactions employing the power of networks.

IBM has created a program to help enterprises take blockchain networks into production faster. "We understand the challenges organizations face and the resources needed to get blockchain networks right the first time," said Marie Wieck, general manager of blockchain technology for IBM.

Syncsort, an analytics platform provider, has announced new integration between its Big Iron to Big Data powerhouse Ironstream, and Compuware's Application Audit software that delivers real-time machine data to Splunk Enterprise Security for Security Information and Event Management. The new integration is intended to help organizations detect threats against mainframe data, correlate them with related information and events, and satisfy compliance requirements.

When people think of fraud, stolen credit card credentials come to mind, but fraudsters have developed new and innovative approaches to monetizing data about companies and individuals. A common and hard to detect fraud approach is create a fictional small business whose legitimacy may hard to verify for service and product providers.

Cloud represents a new way of approaching database management, potentially relieving enterprise data shops of many administrative burdens. But in reality, for the DBA, the cloud has also become the new bottleneck because developers can open up new cloud accounts so easily, which immediately become a new responsibility for the DBAs who are the gatekeepers. This trend will only increase as cloud continues as a trend in the industry, Kellyn Pot'Vin-Gorman, technical intelligence manager for the Office of CTO, Delphix, who presented a session at Data Summit 2017, titled, "Database Management & the Cloud."

As DBAs, we can get mired in the depths of performance tuning parameters and scripts, sometimes getting lost in all the details. It is a good idea to always have a set of goals and philosophies that you can lean on to keep you focused and working on the appropriate things. That is what I want to talk about in this month's DBA Corner column. Some high-level rules of thumb for achieving your DBMS-related performance goals and maintaining your sanity.

VMware, a global leader in cloud infrastructure and business mobility and Gold level member of Oracle PartnerNetwork, and Oracle have formed a new relationship to simplify management and enable advanced security features for Oracle's suite of mobile business applications and Oracle Mobile Cloud Service (OMCS) for mobile devices.